According to a new CDC press release, current e-cigarette use among middle and high school students tripled from 2013 to 2014. Findings from the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey show that current e-cigarette use (use on at least 1 day in the past 30 days) among high school students increased from 4.5 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent in 2014, rising from approximately 660,000 to 2 million students. Among middle school students, current e-cigarette use more than tripled from 1.1 percent in 2013 to 3.9 percent in 2014&mdash;an increase from approximately 120,000 to 450,000 students.

According to the US Surgeon General's Report on The Health Consequences of Smoking (Chapter 5, on Nicotine):
>>The evidence is sufficient to infer that at high-enough doses nicotine has acute toxicity, that nicotine activates multiple biological pathways through which smoking increases risk for disease., that nicotine exposure during fetal development, a critical window for brain development, has lasting adverse consequences for brain development, and that nicotine adversely affects maternal and fetal health during pregnancy, contributing to multiple adverse outcomes such as preterm delivery and stillbirth.
>>The evidence is suggestive that nicotine exposure during adolescence, a critical window for brain development, may have lasting adverse consequences for brain development.
>>The evidence is INADEQUATE to infer the presence or absence of a causal relationship between exposure to nicotine and risk for cancer.

Should public health agencies' stance on e-cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapies (which don't involve tobacco exposure) be the same as or different than the stance on tobacco products? How should we approach public health topics where there is insufficient evidence to create an evidence-based policy?